How to Guide for First Time Home Buyers

As you prepare to purchase your first house, there is a ton to learn. Often, people spend more time chosing which LCD TV to buy than they will on their new house. Sure, they may look at many homes before making a buying decision, but how much research did they do about that particular house before they bought that real estate?

When buying a TV, you do your homework, read reviews, visit chat forums and compare models.

Then you narrow it down and choose the model with the attributes you want at the price you want to pay.

With homes, the comparison is not so easy. There are no comparisons that you can download from the Internet preloaded with data to aid you review two specific houses side-by-side. Even if they were out there, it can show basics – taxes, lot size, etc., but you would still want to do your own analysis to make sure the information is correct AND to review dozens of features inside the home.

First, educate yourself on the home purchase process. Visit www.HomeBuyersGuide.com and download the free guide that talks about the house purchasing procedures. Read through this guide – a 100 page PDF – a excellent guide for purchasing a house.

Next, decide on your neighborhood. If you’re purchasing Commack real estate, for example, be ready to compare several homes. Don’t just walk through, look around and then try to remember the details days and weeks later. Make checklists (samples are included in the guide you can download) that you should take to every house you visit. Make notes of the number of bedrooms, the size of the rooms, the layout of the kitchen, appliances and more. Look at the landscape. Is it attractive?

Does it have to be redesigned? These are questions that you not only need to ask, but also need to track.

You can set up a spreadsheet using Excel-were you simply create a chart on a piece of paper with a ruler. Down the left side, make a list of all of the features that you may find in the home. If you want a master bedroom plus 3 more, list those.

Drop columns going down the page, one for each house.

Taking notes in the corresponding box for each home so you can sit back after looking at many homes and make a good comparison.

One of the ways that home purchase get themselves in trouble – typcially first-time home buyers – is that they fall in love with the home and miss the issues.

These issues start popping up on the day that you move-in and, at that time, it’s usually too late to deal with them.

How do you avoid these issues? Well, with new construction you can have fewer problems. Why? Because the home is new. What generally runs better, a brand-new car or a 10-year-old car? The answer is undeniable. All issues can of course occur with the new car, they’re far more likely with the used. The same thing applies to homes. The older the home is, the more likely that you can have problems. New houses, while priced slightly higher, will usually have far fewer issues.

For example, with Manorwood Estates in Commack New York, a small development with energy Star certified homes, all houses are newly built. You may examine during construction to make sure that things are going as anticipated. Once completed, these homes – built to energy Star specifications – will have few issues if any. If they do, you’re still in contact with the builder who is given a warranty on the house. As issues appear, contact the builder who can quickly correct them for you.

Don’t minimize the worth of the warranties, including warranties on the appliances. If you move into a used home with a 15-year-old refrigerator and that refrigerator rapidly dies, your only solution is to go purchase a new refrigerator. If your home has a new refrigerator with a warranty, it should be fixed at no expense to you.

As you go forward, educate yourself. Read the guide. Create checklists of questions and features and bring them with you to every home you look at. Write down everything. In the end, it will aid you objectively find the perfect home for you and your family.